Analogy

Understanding the meaning of an analogy is key to the success of the analogy in communication. Some analogies will be understood by most people that speak the same language. Within small social groups of people, there are often shared analogies that bind the group together. Other analogies are only understood by people living in a certain region or country.

Common Analogies and Their Meanings

I feel like a fish out of water. This implies that you are not comfortable in your surroundings.

She was offended when I said she was as flaky as a snowstorm. That isn’t a very nice comparison to make.

There are plenty of fish in the sea. Unless you really are a fish, this encourages you to move on and find another potential mate.

She was as quiet as a mouse. It is hard to hear a mouse, so that means she was very quiet.

Bing Crosby had a velvet voice. Since voices are not made of velvet, this implies that is voice was smooth and soothing.

Similes

A simile compares two things using the words “as” or “like.” An example of a simile would be “you are as stubborn as a mule” which means to convey the fact that you are being very stubborn. Another example would be “He is as blind as a bat” meaning he doesn’t see very well.

Sweet as the last smile of sunset

Sweet as the twilight notes of the thrush

Sweet as the infant spring

Sweet as a cat with syrup in its paws

Sweet as morning dew upon a rose

Sweet as summer's showers

logical analogy :

1 A similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar

a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based

2 A comparison based on such similarity

similarity or comparability

3 A form of reasoning based on the assumption that if two things are known to be alike in some respects, then they are probably alike in other respects.

Biology. an analogous relationship.

4 Linguistics

The process by which words or morphemes are re-formed or created on the model of existing grammatical patterns in a language, often leading to greater regularity in paradigms, as evidenced by helped replacing holp and holpen as the past tense and past participle of help on the model of verbs such as yelp, yelped, yelped.

Linguistics.

A the process by which words or phrases are created or re-formed according to existing patterns in the language, as when shoon was re-formed as shoes, when -ize is added to nouns like winter to form verbs, or when a child says foots for feet.

B form resulting from such a process.

Origin of analogy

Latin analogy Greek

Examples of Analogy from Everyday life

We use analogy in our everyday conversation. Some common analogy examples are given below:

1 Life is like a race. The one who keeps running wins the race and the one who stops to catch a breath loses.

2 Just as a sword is the weapon of a warrior, a pen is the weapon of a writer.

3 How a doctor diagnoses diseases is like how a detective investigates crimes.

4 Just as a caterpillar comes out of its cocoon, so we must come out of our comfort zone.

5 You are as annoying as nails on a chalkboard.

Analogy Examples in Literature

An analogy is a comparison of two or more things or ideas which are alike in certain

respects and different in other respects.

Examples

Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is - The Flea by John Donne

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.